Paparazzi
"Paparazzi" is a song by American recording artist Lady GaGa, released as the final single from her debut album, The Fame. Written by Rob Fusari and Gaga, the song was the album's third single in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Italy, the fourth in Canada and the United States and the fifth in Australia, New Zealand and France. It was released on July 6, 2009 in the United Kingdom and four days later in Australia. Initially, "LoveGame" had been planned as the third single release in the United Kingdom, but it was decided that "Paparazzi" would be released instead because of the potentially controversial lyrics and music video of "LoveGame". The song was written by Gaga to portray her struggles with her quest for fame. It is an up-tempo dance song whose lyrics describe a stalker following somebody to grab attention and fame. "Paparazzi" has been critically acclaimed for its fun-filled, club-friendly nature. The accompanying music video shows Gaga as a doomed starlet hounded by photographers, and gets almost killed by her boyfriend. It shows her survival, comeback, revenge on her boyfriend, and experiences on the way to fame. The song reached the top ten of the official charts in Australia, Canada, Ireland and United Kingdom, while reaching number one in Germany and the Czech Republic. In the United States it has reached six on the Billboard Hot 100. Gaga performed the song live at The Fame Ball Tour, where it was the opening song, the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, where she won Best Art Direction and Best Special Effects awards, and on Saturday Night Live in October 2009. As a Rapunzel-like character, she also performed it on The Monster Ball Tour. On the second leg of the tour Gaga performed the song in a dress inspired by The Wizard of Oz, and alongside a giant anglerfish. Writing and Inspiration When Ron Slomowicz from About.com referred to different interpretations of the single, Gaga responded: Well I'm so glad there are a few different interpretations, that was the idea. The song is about a few different things – it's about my struggles, do I want fame or do I want love? It's also about wooing the paparazzi to fall in love with me. It's about the media whoring, if you will, watching ersatzes make fools of themselves to their station. It's a love song for the cameras, but it's also a love song about fame or love – can you have both, or can you only have one? To the Australian Daily Telegraph, Gaga explained that the song was also about struggling to balance success and love. Bill Lamb from About.com concurred that "the song is a tribute of sorts to the symbiotic but ultimately fake and 'plastic' relationship between stars and their trailing paparazzi ... who, for better or worse, are there to document and, in a sense, create the stardom." Critical Reception The song has been given positive reviews by music critics. Jill Menze of Billboard, while reviewing The Fame Ball Tour complimented Gaga's vocals on the song by saying "the fame-obsessed ballad 'Paparazzi' showed how adept she can be with her range." Alexis Petridis of The Guardian said that "You may quickly tire of hearing the album's theme constantly reiterated, but the tune of 'Paparazzi' takes up residence in your brain and refuses to budge." Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic, called the song clever and said that it "functions simultaneously as glorious pop trash and a wicked parody of it." Ben Norman of About.com said that the song was one of his favorite three of the album and that it was amazing. Priya Elan of The Times thought that "even the trio of songs that provides the core of the album's celebrity theme ('Paparazzi', 'Beautiful Dirty Rich' and the title track) don't ruminate on the addictive inanity of fame, choosing instead to observe passively." Bill Lamb from About.com felt that the song was Gaga's top artistic achievement. He went on to list the symbiotic star and paparazzi relationship, the emotion behind the words and music, and the insistent vocals by Gaga as the pros of the song. Evan Sawdey of PopMatters said that both "Paparazzi" and the earlier single "Poker Face" are comparable with the musical styles of first single "Just Dance" but added that "never once does it feel like Gaga is deliberately repeating herself; instead, her faults only come from covering territory that she’s obviously not prepared for." Freedom du Lac of The Washington Post said that even though Gaga turns somewhat serious while disapprovingly singing "Paparazzi", the song comes across as flat and faceless as well as vapid. Erika Howard of the New Times Broward-Palm Beach called it the most telling track from the album. Jon Caramanica of The New York Times said that "'Paparazzi' is a love letter from camera to subject but stops short of admitting that the affection runs both ways. Any notion that Lady Gaga is sketching an elaborate stunt is stopped cold at the lyric sheet, a perverse flaunting of simplicity that betrays no cynicism whatsoever." Pitchfork Media ranked 'Paparazzi' number 83 on their list of 2009's 100 best tracks. Music Video Development The music video was directed by Swedish director, Jonas Åkerlund, who has previously directed music videos for artists like The Smashing Pumpkins, Madonna, Moby, Rammstein, and U2. His wife Bea Åkerlund was hired as Gaga's stylist for the video. Gaga told MTV that she had finished shooting ".. my video for 'Paparazzi,' which I really am very pleased with the way that turned out. It's like a short film." In an interview with The Canadian Press on May 26, 2009, Gaga cited her video as "the most amazing creative work that she's put together so far." She went on to describe the idea behind the video and the message it gives as, "It has a real, genuine, powerful message about fame-whoring and death and the demise of the celebrity, and what that does to young people. The video explores ideas about sort of hyperbolic situations that people will go to in order to be famous. Most specifically, pornography and murder. These are some of the major themes in the video. The video was supposed to premiere on June 4, 2009, in the United Kingdom and Ireland, on Channel 4. However, while touring in Australia, Gaga posted a message on her Twitter account on May 29, 2009 saying "Stop leaking my motherfucking videos", which referred to the video being released without the singer's consent. Synopsis EnlargeGaga wearing a metallic leotard with matching helmet, while attempting to walk with the help of crutches in the music video for "Paparazzi".The music video is an eight minute mini-movie starring Gaga and Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgård as her boyfriend. It features a murderous plot line involving a doomed starlet who is constantly followed by photographers. The video opens with a shot of a seaside mansion, where Gaga and her boyfriend are shown lying on a bed talking in Swedish. They move to the balcony and start making out, but a hidden photographer takes pictures of them. Gaga realizes that her boyfriend has set the paparazzi to photograph her and tries to stop him. However when it becomes futile, she smashes his face with a champagne bottle. The enraged boyfriend throws her over the balcony. Gaga lies at the ground in her own blood as paparazzi take pictures of her bloody body and tabloid headlines proclaim that her career is over. According to Rolling Stone this scene pays homage to Alfred Hitchcock's film Vertigo. Gaga is shown getting out of a limousine, being carried by male dancers to a wheelchair. It is during this scene, that the song starts. As the dancers gyrate around her, she starts walking down the carpet with the help of a pair of crutches while wearing a metallic bustier and a matching helmet. According to Entertainment Weekly this cyborg like leotard is similar to an outfit in George Michael's "Too Funky" music video. These scenes are interspersed with scenes of dead models lying around the mansion. Next Gaga is shown on a golden couch where she makes out with a trio of hair metal rockers during the line "Loving you is cherry pie". The trio, known as Snake of Eden, are from reality television dating program Daisy of Love. According to MTV this scene is a reference to the song "Cherry Pie" by American glam band Warrant. This sequence was dedicated to Gaga's initial days as a dancer at rock clubs.Right after that, the chorus starts again with Gaga wearing a white body suit and a black skirt on her right leg. The video continues through the intermediate bridge with Gaga wearing a dress made up of film strips and a towering feathered Mohawk headdress.46 In the next scene, Gaga and her eye-patch wearing boyfriend are reading magazines on a sofa in a tea room. Gaga wears a yellow jumpsuit with circular glasses and shoulder pads. The Guardian compared this look with that of Minnie Mouse. She finally takes her revenge on her boyfriend by discreetly poisoning his drink with white powder concealed in her ring Lucrezia Borgia is rumored to have had. As he falls dead she calls 9-1-1 and declares that she just killed her boyfriend. The police come and arrest Gaga who, wearing a tall corkscrew wig, walks to the police car as the paparazzi surround her once again. Images flash by, with newspapers proclaiming her innocence and that Gaga is back in the spotlight and has regained her fame. The video ends with Gaga posing for mug shots like a fashion model while wearing a tulip shaped metallic dress similar to the single cover. The Daily Mail compared this dress with a similar outfit worn by singer Beyoncé Knowles on her I Am... Tour. Reception Rolling Stone writer Daniel Kreps compared the video with the music video of "November Rain." The scenes of the dead models were described as stomach turning while he complimented the video for "brimming with cinematic style so that it’s hard to take your eyes off it, though it will likely be labeled as a little self-indulgent." He also commented on the leaking of the video saying that it "warranted more than just a simple leak; it deserved a red carpet." Anna Pickard from The Guardian complimented the video saying that "quite a lot of work has gone into it". However, she opined that the video was too long. The video was nominated for five VMAs at the 2009 awards in the categories of Best Direction, Best Editing, Best Special Effects, Best Cinematography and Best Art Direction. Along with four other nominations for "Poker Face", she and Beyoncé were tied for most nominations this year. The video won the award for Best Art Direction and Best Special Effects. The music video for Gaga's single "Telephone" is a continuation of the "Paparazzi" music video, and is a short film as well. The video picks up right where "Paparazzi" left off; starting with Gaga in prison. Cover Versions A cover of the song was performed by Greyson Michael Chance, a 12-year-old boy from Oklahoma. The video of the performance, which took place at an Edmond middle school's "Chorus Performance Night", was posted on his YouTube channel, and received over ten million views. Soraya Roberts from Daily News commented "His spot-on vocals and adept key strokes impressed the crowd of mostly teen girls - it probably didn't hurt that Chance also has Justin Bieberesque good looks." Greyson has gone on to perform the song on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and during the taping of the show Lady Gaga herself phoned in to praise his performance of the song.